Page 38 of Worth Every Moment

Her mouth forms a neat O and she touches her fingers to her lips, displaying perfectly manicured pink nails. “Goodness. I don’t know what came over me. Sorry.” Her voice is so sickly sweet that the apology rings false, leading me to suspect that she knew exactly what she was doing. She can’t be fully on board with this arrangement either. Antonio lowers himself to sitting,both hands flat on the table as he glowers at her. Flashing a tight smile, she holds her hand out to me. “Hi, Mr Hawkston Junior.”

I grip her hand, stifling my grin. “Good to meet you.” I release her and flick my jacket out of the way as I sit next to her.

Well, this is fucking awkward. Or hilarious. Or both.

Our fathers continue the meeting like nothing unusual has occurred. Dad outlines the basics of the land and hotel deal. The Marchettis want to keep a long leasehold of the land, which I can tell fucks Dad off. He wants the freehold, but Antonio won’t let it go.

“I also want to ensure that Arthur Knatchbull gets his luxury goods stores on the ground floor,” Antonio says.

Dad has no issue with this because Hawkston Hotels has been dealing with Knatchbull Luxury Goods from the start. They’re in all our hotels, as well as every luxury shopping street in the world. Clearly, the Knatchbulls and Marchettis are acquainted.

“And you’re an interior designer, Diana?” I ask by way of making conversation while Dad and Antonio thrash out the details. This meeting really does feel like we’re the kids and they’re the men, and the whole thing makes me fucking angry, but seeing as Diana is sitting beside me, it would feel wrong to ignore her.

“No. This was my first project. I’m a social media influencer, but Dad doesn’t think it counts, so he gave me the restaurants to design. With supervision.” I glance at her father, who’s paying us no attention. “I thought you might know what I did,” Diana adds. “I thought you’d have looked me up. I looked you up.”

“Ah. No. I didn’t.”Because the only woman I’m stalking on social media is Erica Lefroy. “What do you… influence?”

“Books. Romance, actually. I’ve just read thatTaming the Beastbook and I would love Erica Lefroy to get cast in the movie. She’s so great.” She lets out a sigh that sounds lovesick, and I try to hide the fact that Erica’s name hit me like ashockwave. “You got a lot of publicity after you picked her up off the runway. I read all about it online. They’re calling you Prince Charming.”

“They are?”

“Yeah. You know… the whole lost shoe thing. You scooping her up and saving her. It’s kind of adorable. She was like Cinderella, which makes you Prince Charming.”

I should definitely change the subject, but if Erica isn’t talkingtome, then talkingabouther is the next best thing. I can’t fucking resist it. It’s the hit I’ve needed.

“She’s so beautiful. You must know her really well. Do you?” She sounds starstruck. “I’d love to have a guy who’d be willing to do that for me. You know, if I fell over in public. Maybe I’m not pretty enough though…” She looks away awkwardly, probably remembering why we’re here. If we get married, the guy who’s supposed to scoop her up and save her is me.

“You’re plenty pretty,” I say.

The little smirk makes a reappearance, and the awkward girl of a moment ago is gone. “Oh, you’re smooth.” She leans back a little, showing all her teeth as she grins at me.

“Excuse me?”

“I wanted to see what you’d say if I played it coy.”

I frown. “You were fishing for compliments?”

“No.” She flicks her hair off her shoulder. “I wanted to see what kind of man you are. My followers tell me I’m pretty a lot in the comments, but I’m not like Erica Lefroy. I’m relying on all the makeup and the filters and—”

“There are no filters here. You’re all good. I promise.”

Her eyelids flutter like she’s holding back an eye roll. “There you go again, trying to reassure me. I might not be a world famous beauty, but I’m happy with my face. It does what I need it to do.”

I take a sip of my wine, unsettled by the attention she’s paying to me already. Normally, I’m the one observing and taking notes. “Which is what?”

“Get people to stop scrolling. Then I can capture their attention with my witty book commentary.” I press my lips together to stop from smiling and raise my wine glass. “How many followers do you have?”

“Half a million,” she responds just as I go to take a sip of my wine.

I splutter into the glass. “Half a million? And your dad doesn’t think that counts?”

She shrugs, but it’s a kind of happy shrug that dismisses her dad’s opinion, and like she’s thrown off a spark, warmth hits my chest. “I’m a bit of a big deal.” Her smile is so bright that I know she’s not taking herself too seriously. “Really, though, it’s just something I’m passionate about. And I think when we love something, we go after it differently. We don’t stop, you know? That’s why my follower count grew so fast.”

My mind goes to Erica, like an elastic band pinging back to its resting place. I wrestle my attention back to Diana. “Consider me impressed.”

“Thanks.” She tips her head, eyebrows pinching. “You seem nice. I don’t want to mislead you.”

“About what?”